Manikarnika: All glitz no gut

As you walk out of theatre after watching `Manikarnika….’ the first thought that you carry is that Kangana Ranaut should immediately quit direction. She is as zilch a director as she is a great actress.  In fact, Kangana only underlines the famous Bollywood belief with this movie – great actors make bad directors.

The movie is set on the lifetimes of Rani Jhansi known popularly as Lakshmi Bai. Manikarnika or Manu was her name before she got married.  The movie begins with a grown-up Manikarnika being sought as the future queen of Jhansi as Jhansi is looking for a able woman who can give the kingdom its next King. As we all know Manikarnika gets married and loses both her husband and the newborn child. 

The British move in to capture Jhansi and the Manikarnika revolts leading to her great sacrifice in 1858. The historical has some pluses like some songs are well written and well executed. The production values are there for all to see. What drags this movie down is a director who insists on having the camera focused on her all the time. After a point a brooding Manikarnika walking in slow motion towards the camera gives you fatigue. 

There is a reasonable impressive cast assembled for this one – Danny, Atul Kulkarni, Kulshushan Kharbanda,Suresh Oberoi etc and none of these actors are either given space or dialogues where they could make some impact. The greater background of 1857 revolt where Rani Jhansi had collaborated with other freedom fighters is just not brought forward on screen. Some scenes are clearly inspired from Hollywood classics, Kangana screaming azaadi and rushing towards the British army on a horse suffers from a clear `Braveheart’ hangover ,only that Oscar winning classic had a great story to tell. 

This movie is also an example how Bollywood film producers are making mockery of national icons by making films on them. The story should be backed by good research and screenplay needs to be watertight. Here the makers have made the actress the director too and she exposes her poor directorial skills. This one is a historic opportunity lost.